Dear members of St. John’s, DON’T COME TO CHURCH ANYMORE.

Don’t come to church, because what you will hear may be disturbing to your ears. It may be disturbing to find out what God has to say to you.

Don’t come if you don’t believe that what you will hear is the eternal, unchanging truth, the Word of God preserved by the Holy Scriptures proclaimed and lived out in the life of our congregation. Go somewhere where they will tell you what YOU want to hear, perhaps a church where their view of God is better suited to accommodate what you would like your god to be. There are plenty of churches happy to satisfy your needs, where you can pick and choose what to believe and not to believe.

Oh yeah, the Bible. If you think the Bible is a book written by a bunch of sexually discriminating men, writing only from a now socially-irrelevant standpoint that has no direct bearing on the evolved world that you live in today, you might as well not come to St. John’s. If you don’t believe what is being taught, preached and lived out in the lives of our church, then you shouldn’t waste your time with it.

Don’t come to church if you don’t believe that you need to be here, even though God has promised to bless you in our worship service. Don’t come because you think God will “strike you down” if you don’t. Sleep in, because you will need to be well rested for service to take on the world on your own.

There’s no need to come and have your children baptized if you believe that’s all it takes to “get to heaven.” If you don’t imagine our church as a place that God has given you to develop, nurture and strengthen your faith and keep you in God’s baptismal promises of forgiveness and salvation through the hearing of the Word and the proper administration of the Lord’s Supper, then perhaps you will have a better go at it on your own. Stay away if you’re convinced that you can love Jesus without going to church, despite the fact that the Bible speaks to the contrary. If you’re convinced there’s no hell, or resurrection for the faithful in Christ, than your loved ones will be just fine standing next to your grave as your body is being lowered into the ground.

Don’t come if you think there’s nothing St. John’s can do for you, or that nothing spoken, preached or sung, or the fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ can have an affect on your life. And please don’t come if you’re looking to be entertained. If you’re coming because it looks good on your résumé, or it’s a place to make contacts for your business, you probably won’t have much success networking here. But we will care for you, rejoice when you rejoice, and grieve when you grieve.

And don’t come if you think that your pastor doesn’t love you and pray for you each and every day. Don’t waste your time with him if you think he doesn’t love you with the love of Christ Himself. Avoid him if you’re convinced he doesn’t want to cry with you and ache with you when you’re in despair. Don’t come if you don’t think he loves your children and agonizes about their spiritual well-being. Don’t come if you’re convinced he’s not concerned enough about where you and they may end up in eternity.

If he seems like he also doesn’t want to help you out with the things that you need to survive in this life, then he’s not worth his salt as a pastor and you are indeed justified in staying away from him.

Beloved, in my attempt to be shocking, I want you to know and understand how serious your pastor is to the calling that he’s been given by you. This may not seem like a love letter, but I assure you that it is. You have called me to tell you the truth; to stand in the stead of Christ and point you to the truth of God’s will for your life. And, as you hear in the beginning of our worship, You have called me to assure you by these words: I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I want you to know that you are loved with an everlasting love. The life of St. John’s revolves around this love. That’s why it’s so important for you to come, listen, receive, and understand that St. John’s life is shaped by the Cross of Jesus Christ. This is nothing but the Easter message. This is what the One who went to the Cross for us says: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.

This is why Jesus calls us to gather together to worship, especially in this season of Easter. God will provide answers in the worship of this church. They may not be the answers you want, but God has spoken them because he truly knows better than we do.

Easter reminds us that our old nature and old ways can be buried, and that like our Lord Jesus Christ, a new and eternal way of life has been given for all who hope and believe. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, come; worship the Lord, for we are his people, the flock that He shepherds. Receive all that he has promised you. He’s waiting for you at St. John’s.

In Christ’s Easter love and service to you, Pastor Young

Wednesday, Mar. 31: Isaiah 53:8 “Is There No Justice?”

Maundy Thursday, Apr. 8: Isaiah 52:15 “Bloodbath”

Come join us Easter Morning, April 11, at 8:00 a.m. for our annual Easter Breakfast in St. John’s Lutheran School Gym following Easter Sunrise Service. Good food, scrambled eggs, sausage, pastries, fruit, juice, coffee and Christian Fellowship awaits you.

Freewill donations will be accepted. Profits will be used for the Camp Lutherhaven Youth Servant Event on June 20-26.

Anyone wishing to donate food or cash, please contact Imogene Dahl-324-6668, Al Vollmer-778-4077 or the Church Office-362-3726. Checks should be made payable to St. John’s Youth Easter Breakfast.

Greetings to you from St. John's Lutheran School, the people who work here and from the students who attend. We recently celebrated another Lutheran School's Week with various activities. We provided a theater presentation on anti-bully behavior, an etiquette lesson, a carnival, a cookie drop, a field trip to the Seminary in Fort Wayne, a grandparent's morning....and other events. We hope you saw our ads in the paper and a few of the articles and pictures concerning our activities. We pray for continued success and growth of our school...we pray for the financial backing needed to fund this ministry...we pray for you as you continue to support our activities with your time, talents, and treasures.
We thank all the people who helped coordinate and who served as volunteers during our National Lutheran School's Week activities: Classroom supervisors were Julie Vergin, Kami Alexander, Ellen Reed, Jami Holt, Colleen Nickerson, Stacy Tharp, Julie Marie Gerick, Holly Games, Diane Wilczewski, Candace Jones, Tara Lehker, Jo Langham… Cordinator for the classroom volunteers was Nicole Schuster. Coordinator for the staff luncheon was Annette Williams. Office help was provided by Cory Shoffner. Kitchen help was provided by Nicole Schuster and Kristi Kneifel. The activities committee was chaired by Marlene Will. Other members of the committee, were Jan Martinsen, Rio Light, Julie Stelter and Lois Krider. Our worship committee was chaired by Beth Hoeppner. Other members of this committee were Matt Nelson, Mindy Bremer, Dave Hoeppner and Karla Eigenmann. Publicity for the newspaper was coordinated by Dave Wippich who was assisted by Jeni Van't Hof.

3/28 Christus Chorus sing 10:45
3/30 Grade 3 to South Bend 9:30-2:15
3/31 Pizza Hut Night 4-11:00
4/5 Spring Break
4/16 Sock Hop 5:30-8:00
4/22 Earth Day assembly in gym 10:00
5/1 Academic Bowl
5/2 Confirmation
5/5 Midterm 4th quarter
5/6 Mobile Education presents an assembly on animals of the wild.
5/20 Spring Music presentation...to be announced
5/28 Kindergarten graduation 7:00 pm in gym

6/2 Pre-kindergarten Graduation 6:30 pm in gym
6/5 8th Grade Graduation at 7:00 service

II ENROLLMENT

The Current enrollment as of 3/12/04 is 167 compared to 162 at this time
last year.

III OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
1. Our math team placed 2nd overall this year at Valpo. Individual winners
were as follows: grade 5...6th place to Anna Marie Gerick...5th place to
Heather Macher....grade 6... 2nd place to Zac Ulmer...grade 8...3rd place and recognized for participating in the contest 4 years in a row...Caitlin
Wippich.. Thanks to Janie Ulmer, Mindy Bremer, Karen Adams, Deb Waak and Robin Wippich for assisting at the math contest.

2. 5/1/04... Academic bowl will include upper grade kids...hopefully this
year. We will probably need some help as in the past.

3. We continue to collect empty copier and computer cartridges. Please do
not box up the cartridges as we have to take them out and re-box them, of
course do what you need to do to keep from getting dirty.

4. A note from "Target Stores:" If you designate St. John's Lutheran
school as their "SCHOOL OF CHOICE," TARGET will donate a percentage of their purchases to our school. It is an easy way for people to get involved, and it really works! We did receive a check for $27.71 on behalf of this program...that we weren't aware we could do. Now that we know...please participate if you can.

5. Thrivent will continue to match donations. This year $24 million
dollars has been set aside as matching funds. We encourage you to donate up to $400 to our school...$200 will be matched by Thrivent. Imagine if we
collect $10,000 in donations...that brings us an additional $5,000! If you
have an account with Thrivent and are financially able...please help out our
ministry by making a donation to our school. Forms are available at the
school office.

6. We thank Jan Kessler for her many volunteer hours selling Al's and
Kroger's certificates for us the last few years. We will not be selling at
Saturday evening anymore as people were not purchasing. Dorothy continues to sell. You can always purchase in the school office, too. Proceeds will be given to the technology fund.

All About Mindy Bremer

If you have some extra time on your hands and would like to take an exciting journey, just walk the school hall until you get to the Grade Six classroom. That's where you will find seventeen sixth graders meeting new academic challenges and spiritual growth each Monday through Friday. My name is Mindy Bremer. I've been a part of the school ministry at St. John's Lutheran School for seven years and the Lutheran teaching ministry for twenty-seven years. During my seven years at St. John's, I've served as preschool teacher, principal, and am currently teaching grade six. God has given me an opportunity at St. John's to use my gifts and talents in a variety of capacities. I appreciate the support of the congregation and the confidence given to me to serve at St. John's in a variety of ways.

I live in Valparaiso, Indiana, with my husband and daughter. My husband, Lynn, is currently serving as principal of Immanuel Lutheran School in Valpo. My daughter, Anna, is currently a junior at Valparaiso High School. Anna had the opportunity this past December to be a part of the orchestra (she plays the oboe and English horn) for the Annual Christmas Concert at the Civic and will also be accompanying the choir at the Maundy Thursday evening worship service.

Besides being involved in the academic programs at St John's in Grades Six through Eight, I also volunteer in a variety of other ways as well. This school year I'm the faculty advisor for our Student Council, have supported our monthly Family Fun Night Activities, am faculty supervisor for the Annual Math contest in Valpo, and coordinate our annual Sixth Grade camping experience at Camp Amigo.

I feel blessed that everyday I have the opportunity to learn and grow with the students I'm in contact with daily. The teaching ministry is a team effort where everyone works together to prepare our children not for just today...or tomorrow...but for eternity! Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of the ministry team at St. John's!

The heating and cooling installation has now been completed and the church lawn will be done by Easter. The Board of Trustees would like to thank Doug Kiger of H & G Plumbing and Heating and Dan Keinetz of Express Electric for a job well done. These two companies took pride in the project as planned , without defacing the beauty of the church.

We would like to thank every one for their donations to the HVAC Fund, but we are well short of the total cost. The final cost of the project was $135,000, which is $15,000 less than the proposed bid of $150,000. Donations to the HVAC Fund will be accepted until enough money has been raised to pay for the system. To date, we have raised $38,000.

The Trustees would also like to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience during this time of major renovation to the heating, cooling and electrical systems. May God bless each and every one of you.

The Stewardship Board has prioritized its responsibilities for the year. We will be focusing our energies primarily in the following areas:

Each month, in the newsletter, we will concentrate in depth on each of these issues and how they impact our Church and each of us as members. This month we will look at the Time and Talents of St. John’s members. We know that there are many Talented people in our congregation, who would like to share their Time in our Lord’s work. Next month’s newsletter will include a survey, which will give you the opportunity to share your talents with us. We will compile the results of this survey and make them available to the Church Office so that we can all work together in service to our Lord.

The Board of Social Ministry continues to be blessed with food donations from the school children and congregational members. As a result the board gave seven food baskets to families in February and eight baskets in March. The families have been very appreciative for the food and we want to again say thanks to the congregation.

From the Board of Parish Education

Spring brings renewal to our world...we celebrate! We pray that your spiritual renewal is taking place during this Lenten season as well. We encourage all of our members to be connected to the study of God’s Word. The Sunday Bible Study with Pastor Young has room for visitors and new participants...just come!

Susan Rosselli will again lead our VBS program the last week in July. Please tell Susan that you will be glad to help in the areas you are gifted and needed. VBS is a mission of the entire congregation...please be a part of this adventure. It is not too early to seek God’s guidance and blessing on this endeavor...be a praying friend today!

Let’s celebrate God’s mercy and grace in our lives as we enjoy the return of the song birds, the green grass and an array of lovely flowers

Thanks to those members who picked up their 2003 church contribution receipts in church or in the office. Your thoughtfulness saved over $100 in postage. The remaining receipts will be in the Church Office until April 15.

All are welcome to the PTL Sponsored Sock Hop on April 16, 5:30-8:00 p.m. Costumes are welcome, but not necessary. There will be food available. Contests will be conducted throughout the evening, including costume, dance, limbo, hula hoop and air guitar. Plan now to come and join the fun! Proceeds will go toward the purchase of new basketball uniforms.

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